Operation Neuland

Part of the Battle of the Atlantic of World War II

Map of the Caribbean Sea

Date	16 February – late March 1942
Location	Caribbean Sea
Result	Axis tactical victory

Belligerents

Germany

Kingdom of Italy

United States

United Kingdom

Netherlands

Commanders and leaders

Karl Dönitz

John H. Hoover

Strength

11 submarines

USS Barney
USS Blakeley
USS Lapwing with
VP-12 (12 × PBY)
2 × Eagle class patrol craft

Casualties and losses

1 killed
1 wounded
1 submarine damaged

45 cargo ships sunk
1 lighthouse tender sunk
10 cargo ships damaged

German casualties were caused by an accident.

Operation Neuland (New Land) was the Kriegsmarine code name for the extension of unrestricted submarine warfare into the Caribbean Sea during World War II. U-boats demonstrated range to disrupt United Kingdom petroleum supplies and United States aluminum supplies which had not been anticipated by Allied pre-war planning. Although the area remained vulnerable to submarines for several months, U-boats never again enjoyed the opportunities for success resulting from the surprise achieved by the submarines participating in this operation.

The Caribbean was strategically significant because of Venezuelan oil fields in the southeast and the Panama Canal in the southwest.The Royal Dutch Shell oil refinery on Dutch-owned Curaçao, processing eleven million barrels per month, was the largest in the world; the refinery at Pointe-à-Pierre on Trinidad was the largest in the British Empire; and there was another large refinery on Dutch-owned Aruba. The British Isles required four oil tankers of petroleum daily during the early war years, and most of it came from Venezuela, through Curaçao, after Italy blocked passage through the Mediterranean Sea from the Middle East.

The Caribbean held additional strategic significance to the United States. The southern United States Gulf of Mexico coastline, including petroleum facilities and Mississippi River trade, could be defended at two points. The United States was well positioned to defend the Straits of Florida but was less able to prevent access from the Caribbean through the Yucatán Channel. Bauxite was the preferred ore for aluminum, and one of the few strategic raw materials not available within the continental United States. United States military aircraft production depended upon bauxite imported from the Guianas along shipping routes paralleling the Lesser Antilles.

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Wikipedia